Kingdom Hearts 3: Path to Dawn
by ashner
Summary: Named in honor of Riku's keyblade. An enemy new to the KH universe, but relatively old to the FF universe attacks but why? After the battle at Radiant Garden, the group finally sets out on their real journey.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Kingdom Hearts but...if they were willing to make a trade...

**Chapter One**

Riku was sitting on the paupu tree that he, Sora, and Kiari had often sat around as kids. He had only been gone for a year, yet so much had changed. When he told Sora nothing had changed he was lying, more to himself than to his friend. Kiari had run up to them, heavily panting, with a message in a bottle--it had the king's seal. Sora quickly pulled it out and after reading it over silently to himself, he read it out loud to his friends.

"Dear key bearers," he began boldly, "It's me, King Micky. Sorry to bug y'all to so soon after you got back, but we were gonna hold a festival for you guys here at Disney Castle. I think y'all are gonna have fun! P.S. I've got some people you might want to meet!"

Sora grinned stupidly and said, "Who would we want to meet? Riku, did you meet someone while you were in the darkness with the King?"

"What do you think?" replied the silver haired keybearer, "I was Zehanort for cryin' out loud!"

Sora and Kiari broke out into laughter simultaniously and Riku grinned at his friends. Riku found it funny that the King would send letter's via water when he had the gummi ship and e-mail.

"When do you think that their gonna come and pick us up?" asked Sora.

Kiari smacked him on the back of the head and took the note from his grasp. "P.S.S. I'll send Donald and Goofy with the gummi ship as soon as I get your reply." she read aloud. "Wow, mom's not gonna be happy when I tell her that." she said

"Why are you wining?" asked Sora, "You weren't gone for two years!"

Riku never knew their parents and he was always kind jelous of Kiari, even though they really didn't care much for her. One day Sora just wound up on the big island and started hanging out with a silver haired boy who had arrived in the same way. They lived their for three years before Kiari moved in.

"Hey, don't get all worked up, okay." said the girl slowly backing away and waving her arms to try and stop Sora before he got all worked up on some ridiculous rant.

The only thing was that there was only three feet of foot room and she soon fell off the island and into the ocean. Sora quikly threw off his shirt and dove in after her. The two began to laugh and swim in the warm water like kids, while Riku quietly watched them. He was still unable to escape the fact that the world on the other side of the 'Door to light' did seem like where he belonged. The darkness that once flowed through his veins still worried him, he was afraid that he would eventually become unable to hold it back. The sunset made him feel at ease, though.

"Hey guys," said Riku to his swimming friends, "Do you think that we should hurry up and send a reply?"

Sora and Kiari were too busy swimming and being loud to pay any attention. Riku decided that the only way for him to make them listen was to jump in as well. He took out his phone and dove in after them.

The silver haired teen grabbed the keyblade master and flipped him into the water head first shouting at the wine haired girl, "Get him, Ki!"

Kiari began to tickle the spikey haired kid wildly causing bubbles from his laughter coming up from his submerged mouth. After Riku and Kiari deecided that if they kept Sora underwater for much longer he would drown they picked him up out of the water. After breathing like he had never breathed a breath in his life he began to laugh.

"You guys got me good that time!" he said.

"It's rediculous that the keyblade master is so easy to take down." said Riku wryly.

"Oh yeah!" yelled Sora beginning to run at his older friend, "Let's just see how easy you are!"

Sora dashed at full force at Riku, seemingly unimpared by the fact that he was in the water and tried to tackle him. As Sora reached Riku, Riku tripped him and sent him face first into the sand under the shallow water.

"Dude, Sora, you've been off of the job for like, a week and you're already out of practice." said a confident Riku proudly looking at his work.

Before he could realize it, Kiari came rushing up from behind him and tackeled him to the ground. As she stood with hands on her hips, Sora grabbed her by the ankle and tripped her.

Rolling over the keyblade master said, "Still think I'm outa practice.?"

"Hey, that was a cheap shot!" shouted the girl in a pouty tone.

Riku began to laugh, "This is so stupid! We finally all get back together and we can't do anything but fight?"

Sora lunged at Riku, who grabbed him and gave him the noogie of his life.

"Hey, weren't you just complaing about the fighting?" asked Sora, almost crying of laughter.

"This isn't fighting, it's a noogie!" yelled Riku.

"Let's head back to town." said Kiari giggling, "We can get washed up and then go see a movie."

"Sound's good." said Riku helping Sora back to an upright position.

"I'm just gonna take some asprin." said Sora rubbing his head.

"7:30 at the mall?" suggested Kiari.

"Sounds...good..." replied Sora whose head was still in pain.

The trio boarded Riku, who lived alone on the island's boat and made the short trip back to the main island where Riku dropped them off and headed back to the island where they used to play as kids. It was 6:17, so he had a while to shower and change. He washed up and dressed in a pair of faded blue jeans and a black shirt with the heartless symbol, which he had adopted as his own, and a dark gray overcoat. He sat out on the porch of the house he had made from the old shed and watched as the sun made the rest of it's way below the horizon. With some time left before he had to go and meet his friends, Riku decidcided to go ahead and e-mail King Mickey.

At seven o'clock Riku made his way to his boat to and quikly sailed back to the main island.

Once he arrived, he met up with Sora, Kiari, Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka at the local movie theater. Sora went with Selphie and Kiari to see a chic-flic while Riku, Tidus, and Wakka went to see an ultra-violent action movie.

When the group met back up in the food court, Sora wouldn't stop complaining about how he had to go and see a movie with the girls, when everyone knew that he chose to to be with Kiari. After Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie went home for the night, the keyblade wielders sat around a table in the foodcourt.

"I sent an e-mail to the King." said Riku slurping his soda.

"When do you think they're gonna get here?" asked Kiari after taking a lick from her sea-salt ice cream.

Sora got a brain freeze after biting his ice cream and said, "I bet they'll be here in a week."

"Cool." said Riku shaking his soda only to hear that he had drunk it all.

"I'll send one telling them to land on the old island." said Kiari pulling out her phone and e-mailing the King.

**Just to be a jerk, one review before I add.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Big thanks to Seru-chan (you know who you are) and the other reviewers, now I can post some more**

**Chapter 2**

Contrary to what everyone thought, Donald and Goofy arrived on the Islands in three days, rather than a week. Sora, Kiari, and Riku stayed in their school uniforms after that day with slight variations: Kiari wore a skirt, Sora's tie hung loosely from his neck, and Riku wore a waistcoat of the school's plaid.

In the back of the Kingdom Gummi ship, Sora, Goofy, and Kiari played a great ammount of go fish, which Sora amazingly won every time, while Donald and Riku drove.

"SHUT UP!!!" yelled Donald at the other's playing cards. "How come I always get stuck with the boring jobs."

"You know that this thing only needs one pilot, you don't have to be up here." stated Riku paying most of his attention to the heartless ships that he was effortlessly destroying.

"I never said I wanted to play cards!" squacked the the duck.

"Fine, it was just a suggestion, geez." said Riku.

After Sora had beaten the will to play cards ever again out of Goofy and Kiari, Disney Castle came into view from the front window.

"Finally!" said Sora breathing a sigh of relief.

"Sora you bonehead!" said Kiari smacking Sora, "We've only been flying for three hours."

Riku docked the ship in the royal gummi dock and the group headed inside of the extravigant castle. Daisy and Minnie led them into the great hall where they were greeted by Mickey and three strangers, one with short spikey firey red hair and green eyes, another with lavender hair tied back in a ponytail with siliver stud earings in each ear who had his right arm wrapped around the third, a young bright yellow haired young woman who wore her hair at shoulder length.

After a time of looking at them, Sora recognized them and shouted, "Organization XII!" drawing his keyblade into his open hand which Kiari also did; Riku just calmly watched.

The woman, whom they recognized as Larxene ducked under cover behind the guy whom the group recognized as Marluxia.

"NOOOO!" yelled the king frantically flailing his arms around above his head.

"Yeah!" said the lanky red head whom they recognized as Axel, "We ain't Organization XII!"

"We do know what you're talking about though." said Marluxia.

After talking over lunch with the ex organization, who now called themselves by the names of their bodies: Matt, Leena, and well, Axel was still Axel, Sora burst out saying, "So when I beat you guys, you somehow found the way back to your bodies like Namine and Roxas did with me and Kiari?"

"Yup!" said a smiling Leena.

"So what was it that you said about the hearless?" asked Riku.

"The heartless sustain the body until the Nobody can find it." replied Matt in an instructorly tone.

"So Micky, why did you invite these guys anyway,not to be rude or anything." asked Kiari.

"Well I just thought that you would be proud to see what your old enemies had become." said Mickey with a smile.

"Besides that, they wanted to see you." said Goofy with a chuckle.

The brooms brought in some dessert which the King motioned to be distributed amongst the eleven people seated at his table. After the meal the guests were led to their rooms to await the evening festivities. Riku was talking to Matt in the lobby of the castle when an unexpected knock came on the front door. After waiting for a moment the knock returned only louder and more violent.

"Go warn the others, I'll hold whatever comes through that door until you get back." stated Matt calmly drawing his sythe.

Riku watched him for a second, now that he had love and friendship to fight for, he became all the stronger. He sprinted up the whimsical stairs hearing the sound of the door crashing open and heartless popping up all over. On the sixth floor he was met by Sora dashin gdown the hall, keybalde in hand.

"What was that!" shouted the Keyblade master at his friend.

"The heartless. Matt's down there fighting them, get the other's I'm going back!" shouted Riku.

Sora ran down the hall, rousing his friends and leading them out into the courtyard.

The soldier type heartless were scattered all over the hedges.

"Startin' a little harder this time, eh guys?" said Sora to his longtime companions Donald and Goofy.

"I'll say! And I don't like it one bit!" shouted Donald casting Firaga into a mass of heartless.

Goofy did a Goofy Tornado through another group while Sora and Mickey fought them with their keyblades with Minnie, Daisy and Kiari staying behind to buff up the rest of the group with spells.

Leena and Axel got holed up in the library somehow, but Axel defeated the heartless there and blew a gaping hole in the wall so the two could meet up with the rest of the group in the courtyard.

"Hey your Majesty, hate to tell ya this, but I blew a hole in your library wall." shouted Axel hurling his fire chakram at a heartless from the back door to the courtyard.

"I was thinkin' of remodelling anyways!" replied the King.

Leena jumped in the way of a heartless who was trying to attack Kiari and said, "Wouldn't want to lose Sora's motivation." Kiari blushed and cast Cure on Leena.

Meanwhile in the lobby, Riku arrived in time to see Matt being outnumbered by heartless.

"Good to see you made it back!" said Matt hurling a multitude of lotus petals at the heartless.

Riku performed Ars Arcanum on a group of them and then shouted, "The others are in the courtyard, we should meet them there!"

Before either of them could think, three enemies closely resembling Riku when he was under Zehanort's influence materialized around the room. The one who seemed to be the leader immediately flew to the roof, while the other two dashed past Matt and Riku, one brushing against Riku and knocking him down. Matt attempted to heal him. but nothing happened because somehow he remained unharmed.

With the other two gone, Riku and Matt performed their own makeshift limit attack where Riku surfed on Matt's sythe which had been thrown and was being propelled by a lotus cannon to the enemy before Matt covered them with exploding lotus petals after Riku batted them with his keyblade. The heartless, or so they thought at least, plemmeted to the ground, smoking.

The duo started to run to the courtyard the sound of something standing came from the back of the room. They turned to see their enemy standing with a glow that indicated that he had somehow used a phoenix down on himself. Before they could leave, the doorway was frozen shut and the 'heartless' closed in on them.

**Uno Review**


	3. Chapter 3

SWEET JESUS IT WORKS AGAIN!!!

**Chapter 3**

King Micky left with the other inhabitants of Disney castle and took them to the town square to evacuate the villagers leaving Sora, Axel, Leena, and Kiari to fend for themselves in the courtyard. It wasn't hard for them to do so considering that the keyblade master was among them, until the heartless that had previously been fighting Matt and Riku came blasting through the door and into the courtyard, two of them at least.

"Who are these guys?" asked Sora with a grunt as he slashed a soldier type heartless with the kingdom key.

"I don't know." said Leena as she nimbly dodged a blow from a group of shadow type heartless.

"Does it matter!" shouted Axel casting a fire spell on a soldier, "They're still trying to kill us!"

That was true seeing as the more femenine of the two greater heartless quickly dashed at Axel and took him down with a single well placed blow. Shortly after that the second heartless knoked out Leena in nearly the same manner, leaving Sora and Kiari back to back fending off all of the heartless themselves. They were able to keep that up for a short while but soon the femenine heartless cast Stopra on Kiari and the other one dispatched her with one swift attack.

"Kiari! No! I don't want to lose you again!" shouted Sora falling to his knees at her side.

The smaller heartless closed in on Sora, but he no longer cared, they had lost anyways, and he let the pain come.

The King and his allies ran into the village where preparations for that evening's festival without knowing of the fierce battle that was raging within the castle's walls.

The King cast Firaga in mid air to gain the attention of the village and shouted, "Everyone to the gummi ship bays, there's no time to explain!"

Utter turmoil was unleashed and quickly spread like a wild fire throughout the usually peaceful village. The king led the villagers through the town and to a large inn where Donald and Goofy ushered them into an underground tunnel that led to the gummi ship hanger under the castle courtyard. With the time that he thought the others were buying for him, he would be able to get the people to his Gepetto flagship.

Sora opened his eyes to complete and total darkness above him and quite a bit of commotionin the area around him. He looked up and to his surprise he saw none other than Roxas hovering over him.

"Roxas how?" the Keyblade Master said to his counterpart.

"I'm not sure how myself, but Namine, Larxene, and the old Axel are here too. Must be some side effect of this place." said Roxas helping Sora to his feet.

Sora surveyed the area around him and saw the familiar planes that he had seen at the dawn of his or Roxas' adventures. With their nobody's the group numbered eight, a more formidable force than the one that usually was there. They were standing on a new plane, one that showed Sora and Roxas back to back with Kiari and Riku at the bottom and the organization formed a border. Suddenly, a guard armor sprang up from the plane. The Axels snared its left leg in a fire trap, but it whipped around and fired its cannnon form at them, sending them flying back but the regained their balance in mid-air and stood at the edge of the plane. Larxene and Leena quickly sprinted around the large heartless, leaving behind a double image taking its accuracy down to the point where it could no longer fire its cannon, and that combined with the trapped leg lowered its effectiveness dramatically.

The armor fully switched into its reverse form and left the leg behind, it was now his arm and no longer neccessary for his movement. Roxas summoned both his Oathkeeper and Oblivion and Sora his Kingdom Key and they quickly began to assault the arm with a XII blades much like Sora and Riku used during their battle with Zemnas in the World that Never Was, and the arm that the heartless had left was soon worse than the first one that was trapped in the fire.

Seconds later the other arm/leg was melted by the fire snare that the Axel's had placed on it. The guard armor frantically stomped at the unarmed Namine, but Roxas hurled his Oathkeeper at her and she, with the help of Kiari was able to destroy it's right leg.

It was almost destroyed and Axel the nobody hurled a chakram at it's head, destroying the heavy metal helm, which fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Leena destroyed the other leg and Sora delivered the finnishing blow by launching it off the Plane with a mighty kick.

When it was gone, a translucent stairway materialized leading to another plane. So tired yet undeterred, the group made their way up the stairs.

Riku and Matt were left alone with the greater heartless and no hope of escape through the back; they were going to have to fight. The heartless quickly launched himself at the duo, but when he went for his blow, exploding lotus decoys were left where the two once were. He turned his masked head only to get a batwing to the face which sent him sailing at his own ice barrier. The barrier shattered with a mighty clash sending chunks of ice flying throughout the room. Once again the heartless rose from his own 'ashes' like the phoenix that he recieved his means of healing from and slowly paced toward Riku and Matt.

"You ready?" asked Matt readying his sicle.

"It's about time he got what he had coming to him." said Riku narrowing his turquoise jenova eyes.

The two men sprinted at the heartless, swiftly dodging his dark Firagas and they simultaniously swung their weapons down upon him. He crashed into the ground, breaking through the white tile.

"You have no more use for us..." said the heartless as a dark portal slowly overtook him from below, "Though you may yet prove...entertaining...My master will be pleased to see what we have accomplished..."

The heartless' voice was thick and infective, but neither of the two had any idea what he meant.

They began to make their leave of the battleground, not knowing where the heartless had gone or what he meant but they both knew something was amiss.

Riku stopped dead in his tracks and his eyes widened.

"What's up, Riku?" asked Matt.

"My...My darkness, its gone..."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Shouldn't that be a good thing." Said Matt.

"Usually I would be glad but I think that those heartless stole it." Said Riku solemly.

"What would they…wait, Zehanort was you're darkness, wasn't he." Matt said, his first question switching to a second mid sentence.

"Yeah, and they have him now…He's free…"

In the planes of destiny, Roxas, Sora, Kiari, Namine, Leena, Larxene, and the Axels quickly made their ways up the glowing stairway not knowing where it was leading, but still prepared to face whatever challenge awaited them.

At the top, the design on the other plane became visible. It depicted the heartless, nobody, and kingdom symbols. The group slowly walked onto it, no danger in sight until a dark purple flash came across their view. Behind them they heard three thuds and aptly turned to investigate.

"You made it past the armor." Said the heartless who had previously been battling Riku and Matt. "Good."

"What do you want here?" queried Sora angrily.

A loud noise thundered in the distance and when they turned to see what it was the heartless disappeared as suddenly as they had come.

On the opposite side of the plane stood a type of behemoth, still blue and still bearing the heartless symbol on its chest, yet it was leaner and looked more dangerous because the regular behemoth's weakness was it's size; a factor that this behemoth didn't have to account for.

"Hello, hello." Said a familiar voice tauntingly, "We meet again, Sora."

"Zehanort!" Shouted Sora moving into a battle stance.

"Sora, wasn't your rashness what cost you so much during our last encounter? Remember, if it wasn't for you wanting to get off your precious little island, none of this would have happened." Said the seeker of darkness.

"Sora! He's lying! Don't listen to him!" shouted Kiari from the back of the group.

"It doesn't matter what brought this upon me; without becoming the keybade master I never could have met my friends." Shouted the spikey haired teen, "I was strong enough to beat you then, I'm more than strong enough to now."

Sora quickly entered final form and went at Zehanort's heartless alone.

"Bring him to his knees, mighty behemoth! Make him bow to the darkness!" shouted Zehanort to his mount.

The behemoth rushed at Sora who brought it to its knees with a precise Thundara bolt on its horn. He slashed at Zehanort with his keyblades sending him spiraling through the stagnant space, but Zehanort recovered and began to levitate several feet above the ground.

"Let's take the behemoth, Sora is more than strong enough the defeat this poser!" Shouted the Axels in unison before they raced toward the downed behemoth.

Sora attacked Zehanort with ragnarok, a tecnique that had allowed him to be defeated during their first battle. Before the attack could be completed, Zehanort summoned his guardian from nowhere to absorb the attack. Before Sora had been unable to defeat the guardian, now he was easily defeated by the single blast that he had absorbed. About that time, the lamenting groan of the defeated behemoth shook the air.

"You insolent…" began Zehanort, but before he could finish a flurry of lighting kunai struck him sending him plummeting to the ground.

"Get ready Sora!" Cried Kiari who batted the falling Zehanort back at the keyblade master, who heard and sent the heartless back to the ground.

When he pierced through several feet of whatever it was that the plane was made of, the door to exit the realm appeared at the side of the plane opposite the stairs, and the group proceeded through it.

Back at Disney castle, King Mickey led the villagers through the dismal passageway to the safety that awaited them at the gummi ship docks. Donald and Goofy remained at the front of the group to keep the few heartless that would stand in their way, while Daisy and Minnie stayed in back. There at the end of the tunnel stood a great door that seemed to have once been an object of adoration, but that was many years ago and now it was only seen in times of peril.

"Back up ev'rybody!" screeched the King as he pulled out his keyblade and unlocked the door.

On the other side, cranking could be heard and Chip and Dale, the royal mechanic, made haste in preparing the King's flagship vessel. The group filed the people into the boatlike Gepetto, ensuring that no one was trampled in the commotion.

Once aboard, the group did a headcount, and seeing that everyone was there, they quickly departed from the world that they had all held so dear in their hearts.

Matt and Riku heard the sound of the ship during its takeoff and decided that it would be best for them to leave the castle themselves. They left the gummi ship that Riku, Sora, Kiari, Donald, and Goofy had arrived on so that their friends could make the escape on their own. Before the left the ship though, Riku placed a letter on the console. The heartless seemed to have abandoned the dying world completely, but that did not cause the duo to delay their efforts of escaping. They chose a black kingdom model with four Holy thrusters and quickly made their way off of the world.

When Sora, Kiari, Axel, and Leena emerged from the door, their respective nobodys were nowhere to be seen.

"Later buddy." Said Sora calmly to Roxas deep within him.

Kiari quickly pointed out that the heartless had abandoned the world.

"If you kill the head…" began Sora who was finished by Kiari saying, "The body dies with it…"

"If Larxene has told me anything about the heartless, it's that they don't function like that." Leena quickly stated.

They quickly made their way to where they had parked the gummi ship in the quiet hours before the heartless showed up.

On the dash, Sora found a note that read: "Radiant Garden. Riku"

"So I guess they went to Radiant Garden?" asked Sora questioningly.

"Sounds good!" Said Kiari smiling.

Her smile made Sora smile which made Axel laugh which made Leena cry about how worried she was that she may never see Matt again; they were supposed to get married that summer.

Sora took the pilot's seat and with that they began the journey to Radiant Garden.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey, sorry for the wait. Thanks to Seru-chan and Neo for the reviews. Yeah, if you can think of a better summary or can guess the guy who pulled a gun on Yuffie, I'll add something of your choice to the next chapter unless I already had a place for that later.

**Chapter 5**

Cloud was propped up against the wall where he did most of his thinking since he the whole predicament with the heartless had ended.

"What's it like, Cloud?" asked a familiar voice from behind him.

"What?" he said back to the long dark-haired wielder of the gunblade.

"The light. You finally found it." He said back to him.

"No…" said the yellow-haired SOLDIER, "_I_ never found it, it found me. It's weird isn't it. Sometimes you can be so sure of something and it just doesn't turn out. My light wasn't what I was looking for…It was what I was running from."

Leon stared in admiration at the depth of the words of someone who he once thought to be a total moron.

"What are you running from?"

Riku and Matt's gummi ship touched down outside of the city and Cid, Aerith, and Yuffie rushed to their aide.

Cid looked at the unscathed hull and said, "Thought ya said you was runnin' from the heartless."

"We did." Said Matt as he stepped out from the ship.

"What are _you_ doing here!" shouted Yuffie at the lavender haired man. "Riku, how come you let him come along?"

"If it wasn't for him, a whole world would probably be dead." Said Riku.

"In that case come with me, I'll get you two healed up in no time." Said the brunette leading them toward the group's house.

On the way, Riku spotted a flyer posted on a telephone pole that showed a blonde guy with a fauxhawk and a purple haired guy with a dead man lock. He couldn't help but wonder, especially when the sign read _The XII-2, live and in concert_.

"Demyx and Zexion, I'd never have expected those two to ever be in the same place. Maybe we'll stop in for a visit at this little concert of theirs."

Unbeknownst to them, a short time earlier, the other group had come to Radiant Garden, only they had landed in the Intergalactic Gummi Dock and avoided the attention of their friends.

"So, uh, yeah, what are we doing here again?" asked Axel dull-wittedly looking around.

"Well, I really don't know. Riku just left us that note on the console that told us to come here." Stated Sora rubbing his head.

"Where do you think he is?" asked Leena.

"Knowing Riku…" Kairi began, but was cut off by Leena who said.

"Not Riku, Matt. He's never been here before."

"As I was saying, Riku probably took him to meet some old friends of ours here, he should be fine." Said Kairi resuming her earlier statement.

"Yeah!" Shouted Sora moving his lips into his stupid grin."

At Aerith's house, Matt was busy giving gardening tips to the brown-haired flower girl as Riku looked back and forth at his phone. He didn't know why, no one was supposed to be calling, and he knew that the rest of his friends had made it off the world safely, yet still he looked at his phone.

Within a short while, Cid came barging into the room shouting, "Where's that slimy ninja?"

"You mean Yuffie?" asked Aerith, turning from her flowers, "I thought she stayed with you."

"Yer kiddin' me! Do you not remember what happened last time?" shouted the blonde haired mechanic.

"Oh no, you don't think that she would do _that_ again? I thought she said her ninja ways were behind her!"

"Whoa, wait a second, what's going on?" asked Riku tucking his phone back into his pocket and jumping into the conversation.

"About a week ago," Aerith began, "Yuffie decided to get some ice-cream for all of us."

"What's so bad about that?" asked Matt still working with Aerith's flowers, using a spell that made them grow incredibly fast.

"She decided that it would be fun to go on the prowl again and tried to mug this guy, only problem was that this guy didn't take well to being mugged and ended up mugging her at gun point." Aerith continued.

"Wow, Yuffie really is an idiot. For a while I doubted Sora, but now I see where he was going with that." Said Riku.

On the other side of town, Axel had strayed away from the group and decided to pursue a little food. After walking down a relatively secluded street for a short time, he began to hear noises, but of course when he turned around there was nothing there. Later he began to feel things brushing against him. By then it was really starting to bother him, so he decided that he would be the next one to make a move and cast an Inferno spell throughout the alleyway. He heard a shriek and brushed of his hands happily. That was until the ninja fell down on top of him.

**ONE REVIEW, LATERZ**


	6. Chapter 6

**Another short chapter, but bear with me, another few final fantasy characters slightly altered in fashion are gonna come into play, still, the random pairing isn't Yuffie and the guy who pulled a gun on her.**

**Chapter 6**

"You think that we should go and look for her?" asked Matt sincerely.

"Yeah, besides if we're gonna pay a visit to Demyx and Zexion we're gonna need tickets." Added Riku.

And so Cid, Riku, and Matt set out on a short and fruitless quest for the ninja and left Aerith alone in silence.

Axel pushed the ninja off of him and stood up. He looked at her and she rubbed her head saying, "What was that for?"

"Whatever stalking me was for." Said Axel smugly.

"Money?" asked the surprised ninja.

"You were trying to mug me?" asked Axel, "What gave you that stupid idea?"

"I wanted some candy." Said the ninja sitting up with a pouting face and and crossing her arms.

"Just how old are you?" asked Axel wondering why someone in their late teens would rob a guy for candy.

"Eighteen." Said the ninja proudly.

Axel stared at her with a look that only said 'wow, you're kidding me'.

He spitefully grabbed her by her hair and dragged her back to find the rest of his group.

Matt, Cid and Riku dashed up and down various streets until they had to stop and catch their breath. To their left, they saw a small café, and on the porch of that café they spotted a brown haired guy and a wine red haired girl who they knew well, and a third member who only one of them knew at all. Almost immediately Sora turned and waved as if he had a friend sense.

The smaller group quickly proceeded to their friends.

"You guys did make it!" shouted Riku enthusiastically for one of the few times that he ever did speak in such a manner.

"Yeah, we were actually worried about you guys." Said Sora and Leena quickly ran to Matt and hugged him.

After a short time of talking and drinking tea, Axel approached with Yuffie in tow.

"Oww! My hair, that's not nice!" shouted the ninja.

"Shut up already." Said Axel, "You've caused enough trouble for one day."

Axel tossed the ninja down at Sora's feet. "You know her?" he asked.

"Yeah…" Sora replied slowly, "They were just looking for her."

"Well they can have 'er." Said the fire wielder, "She really isn't much fun to hang around with."

The group laughed in unison, it was a welcome sight, because both parties had been worrying about their respective members.

"Hey, Sora, Matt thinks that he has an idea." Riku told his friend.

"What is it? I haven't come up with anything yet." Said the Keyblade master.

"Well Demyz and Zexion's bodies are playing here at some kind of benefit concert, which got me thinking, maybe if we could round up the old organization then we would be able to figure out what the heartless' new motive is." Stated Matt.

The rest of the group agreed and set out for the ticket office.

Back at Aerith's house, the flower girl sat down with her own cup of tea and a book that she had been reading for some time. The front door opened and in came a familiar face that she had not seen in quite a while, Leon.

"Hello Leon." She said in a friendly tone and gave him a smile.

"Aerith, there's something that I wanted to tell you." Said the man.

"What is it, Squall?" she asked calling him by his old name.

"Aerith, when Cloud is gone, do you miss him?" asked the man, confused by his own words.

"Yeah, I do a lot. But I always know that he's gonna come back some day, and everything will be happy again." She said smiling.

"What about…me...?" asked Leon.

"You…" Aerith paused for a moment, as if she was thinking, "You never leave me Leon. How can I miss something that's right here?"

"Sometimes, I leave on my own, my mind drifts back to her…" said Leon, referencing someone whom he had lost on during the first raid on Hollow Bastion.

"Squall, it's okay, I'm always here for you. We've never been apart." Said the girl moving closer to him.

At that very moment, what Cloud had said finally sunk in. He had been running from Aerith, and never stopped to notice that she was always right there, right at his side.

"Squall, have you seen Cloud lately?" asked Aerith.

"Yeah, we talked this morning. He said that he was going to go and meet someone." Responded Leon.

"Oh, well, the kids were going to go to that concert thing, and I was going to ask him to go with me, but seeing as he's not here…"

Leon understood what she was going to say and quickly said, "Sure. We really never talk much, so that might be a good time to get to know each other better."

They both found it funny that they had been roommates along with Yuffie, Cid, and an on and off Cloud for almost three years and they still didn't know each other that well.

**Yeah, weird chapter, wasn't it? Some of my many, bizarre but sense making pairings coming out. So yeah, one review is all I need.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Yeah, I am in a really good mood, but still, this chapter is gonna get pretty crazy.**

**Chapter 7**

The group made it just in time to get the last few tickets for them and their friends who weren't with them at the time.

"Hmm, Looks like we've got some good seats, front and center." said Sora to his group.

"Yeah, so anyways, when do we have to be back?" asked Riku with various plots running through his head.

"Looks like seven o'clock." said Kairi.

Matt grabbed Riku's shoulder and said, "We need to get ready."

"Ready for what?" asked Yuffie who was still positioned uncomfortably on the ground.

"I got this idea where we get the Organization back together and see if we can figure out a motive for the heartless' recent actions." said Matt.

"The Demyx and Zexion are performing at the concert, so we thought we could pay them a little visit." said Riku.

"You guys already said that." said Axel.

"Well ya can count me out." said Cid flicking the twig that he held between his teeth.

"Oh come on Cid, it'll be fun!" said Yuffie, but the ninja was unable to waver the older man.

"So what do we do till then?" asked Leena.

"We could go shopping." stated Kairi hopefully.

"NOOOO!" shouted Sora, "Not another girls day out!"

"Well I'm gonna hit the shops too." said Riku seeming like he had finally gotten an idea.

"Why, oh why!" said Sora woefully.

"You can come home with me, I was gettin' ready to watch the game." suggested Cid.

"What game?" asked Sora hopefully.

"The NASGAR race." said Cid.

"Argh! This is so rediculous! I'm gonna go hang out with Leon or Cloud, they'll have something to do." stated the Keyblade master before he headed off down the crowded streets.

Unknown to him, he would be unable to find Leon at home, for he was walking the streets window shopping with Aerith. While most couples would have been holding hands, they were standing about two feet from each other and almost never made eye contact. The whole idea was still a bit awkward to Leon. Suddenly, two figures obstructed their path, one in a long golden-brown duster with an extraviagant vest and slicked back hair with sideburns of the same color, the other with a tight black leather suit with high boots and a long white ponytail of an awkward shape.

"Pardon me," said the man holding out a picture of Yuffie, "Do you have any idea where this ninja is? We had quite an unusual encounter the other day and I believe that she has something of mine."

"Yuffie told us that as soon as she jumped that guy, he pulled a gun on her and _she _was the one who got robbed." said Leon defencevly.

"I never said that I didn't, I just said that she somehow got away with something very important to me." said the man.

"Just what might that be?" asked Leon constantly growing more and more irritated.

"Let's just say it was something that I needed and call it good, alright?" said the man.

"Are you sure you know what you're getting into Bal..." began his accomplice.

"You know what, you're right. We don't need to hold these fine young people up all day do we? I'm very sorry for wasting your time." the man said as he grabbed Aerith's hand and kissed it gently, and then he was off.

"Who was he?" asked Aerith blushing.

"No idea. But that smooth talking was beginning to get on my nerves." said Leon.

The two continued on with their shopping until they spotted Leena and Kairi in a trinket shop.

"Hey look, it's Kairi!" said Aerith, grabbing Leon's hand while he wasn't paying attention and dragging him into the store."

Riku walked alone down the streets and into a music store, where he saw a rediculously awesome looking guitar. Just then he finally got his idea of how to get Demyx to pay attention to them: He would challenge him to a guitar contest in front of the whole audience. He stepped into the store and bought the guitar with just about all of the munny that he had brought with him from the islands, and began to fiddle with it until he was comfortable, and then with the guitar strapped to his back, began to walk the streets again.

It was about six o'clock and the group was back together, but still Cloud was nowhere in sight. Then Kairi spotted him coming their way with his arm around a dark haired girl in a black outfit.

"Hey, it's Tifia!" said Aerith waving her arm to signal them over.

"Hey!" shouted the girl known as Tifa as she and Cloud ran over to the rest of the group.

"We late?" asked Cloud as soon as he and Tifa gathered with the rest of the group.

"Not quite, but if we want to avoid some kind of mosh pit, we might want to get in early." said Leon dryly.

"Hey dude, liven up!" said Axel igniting a fire between two of his fingers. Yuffie said it too but stopped when she saw that Axel had outdone her.

The group entered the Radiant Garden ampitheatre and quickly moved to their seats. Strangely nobody had noticed that Riku had a guitar strapped to his back up until that time.

"What's that for?" asked Sora stupidly.

"He's gonna play you bonehead!" said Kairi batting him on the back of the head.

"Why would he do that?" asked Yuffie in a simmilar manner causing even Axel to smack himself in the face.

"Because, he is going to try to wager Dan and Zack's assistance if he beats him in a contest, right Riku?" said Aerith, causing the entire group's eyes to widen.

"Yeah...that's exactly what I was gonna do..." said a shocked Riku.

The concert began with a loud and upbeat song, and as Leon had preddicted, the group ended up in a mosh pit. After that song, the band took a break so that Zack could get a drink. Riku found that instant the perfect time to challenge him. Being on the front row it was easy for him to get onto the stage. As soon as he was up there, he plugged his guitar into an amp and shouted into the microphone, "HEY XII-2, I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!"

**BOO BOO BOO YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO, ONE REVIEW!!! Yeah, now you can probably guess who the mystery man is, but still...**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Dan stopped where he stood and almost dropped his Rickenbacker 360/12, and turned to look at who had called him out.

"Yeah you." said Riku.

Demyx's memories welled up inside of Dan and he immediately recognized the keybearers and his old friends. Shortly there after Zack dashed back onto the stage.

"What the...?" he asked.

"I challenge you to a guitar contest, you vs. me. We can both use bands and vocals." stated the silver haired youth.

"I don't know..." Dan began, but the roar of the crowd soon pursueded him otherwise.

"You're on." stated Dan narrowing his eyes, "What are your conditions?"

"If we win, you come and help us for a while; if you win, then we're gonna leave you guys alone." said Riku.

"Why do we need to help you?" asked Zack.

"_You_ don't need to help us; we only need your memories." said Riku.

Oohs and ahhs filled the audiance at what this random guitar wielding guy had just said.

"You're on." said Dan confidentely.

"Good." said Riku, "Sora, get up here, I need you on rythmic guitar; Matt, can you do bass?"

Matt nodded and he Axel, who was going to play the drums, and Sora quickly took the stage along side their comrade.

And thus the contest began. The good guys began with a Welcome to the Black Parade, which was countered by a Anna Molly by the XII-2. The good guys quickly recovered by whipping out From Yesterday, but again the XII-2 gained the crowd favor by playing Beast and the Harlot. But the XII-2 were running out of energy and the Good Guys were just getting started. The Good Guys played Last Breath and the XII-2 attempted to play Take Me Out, but the crowd was begging to lean more toward the Good Guys. At last, the Good Guys prevailed in a two teamed rendition of Freebird leaving the crowd in a standing novation.

"You guys...won." said Dan under the roar of the crowd's applause.

"Yup!" shouted Sora through his goofy grin.

"I guess we're yours." said Zack in nearly the same manner as Dan.

"Don't worry guys, it's just like old times. We can be buds again...well...for the first time..." said Axel.

"Dude, just shut up." said Riku, "We just want you guys' help for a little while. After we round up the whole Organization, then you guys are free to go."

"Sounds fair enough, I guess." said Dan with a sigh.

In that moment, the happiness turned to sheer horror as from over the ampitheatre wall a gigantic white and red airship slowly made its way across the horizon.

"Grr..." grolwed Leon picking up his date by her hand, "Cloud, they're gonna take the city if they havn't already. Me and Aerith are gonna take care of the residential district; you two and Yuffie need to go take the market."

"No, both of us can fight. No offence to Aertih, but she's not much of a front line fighter." said Cloud as he and Tifa stood.

"Okay!" said Yuffie, "Hey Axel! Wanna come?"

Her question almost startled the fire wielder, but he agreed and went with them, even though he was probably needed more where he was.

**Okay, so a really short chapter. But hey, the next chapter is gonna be one long one, or maybe two average ones; not quite sure. This one's short because I started chapter nine today at school and don't have it with me to work on. Oh yeah, a few more FF characters and a Yuffie x Axel thing looming in the horizon (Cid kills some stuff with a four foot monkey wrench). Oh yeah, all of those songs belong to their respective owners: MCR, Creed, Leonard Skinard, Incubus, Avenged Sevenfold, and Franz Ferdinand**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter nine**

Flying heartless began to pour down from the giant airship overhead, leaving the crowd distraught.

"Everybody, stay calm!" shouted Zack into his mike.

Smaller pods deployed from the hull of the airship and pounded into the ground. From them emerged squadrons of shadows and neoshadows that began to swarm the crowd.

"I got these!" shouted Dan, water cloning himself and unleashing said clones into the oncoming force of the heartless.

"How are we supposed to get up there?" asked Kairi to Sora while looking up at the ship looming overhead.

"A little faith, trust, and pixie dust." Said Sora grabbing Kairi's hand, "Think happy thoughts." He commanded as he lifted up into the air.

Down on the ground Matt, Riku, Leena, Dan, and Zack desperately fought the force of heartless while trying not to accidentally cause any collateral damage, but after they destroyed one, others were soon to follow.

"Are they making these things up there?" asked Matt as he lunged through a neoshadow.

"Didn't think that that was possible." Shouted Zack as he smashed one in the form of a guardian type heartless.

"Hurry up, Sora." Riku muttered under his breath after striking down a heartless of his own.

Sora and Kairi nimbly dodged the oncoming heartless and dropship type vehicles and touched down in the hanger. Almost immediately they were met by a patrol of soldier type heartless, which they aptly dispatched. Sora was beginning to grow tired of running through the monotonous corridors and fighting a new breed of heartless that resembled a large armored figure with a greatsword in one hand.

At last the two reached the door to what seemed to be a bridge.

"After you." Said Sora offering Kairi to try her hand at opening locks with the keyblade.

She did and with a beam from the keyblade and a glow from the door, it was unlocked and the inside revealed as they though, a bridge. The bridge was empty sans a collection of terminals and chairs and other such equipment.

"Greetings, children." Said a voice from behind them, "Why now would you, assuming that you truly are the keyblade masters of light, break into an old man like mine ship? Have you forgotten your manners?"

"I think you're the one who's forgotten his manners!" shouted Sora turning to face him.

The man wore gold armor with crimson under garments and a crimson cape.

"Ahh, a fiery one; I like it. My name is Ghis." Said the man donning a large golden weapon from his back, and moving it in a taunting motion toward Sora and Kairi.

"Sora, be careful, he looks dangerous." Said Kairi forebodingly.

"I'll be careful Kairi, just be there to back me up." Stated Sora before violently dashing at his enemy.

Cid was sitting in the comfy chair of his house when the race that he had been watching suddenly switched with a news program that stated that the city was under attack from bizarre and unusual creatures. A mere moment later, the older man heard a fierce knock on his door.

"Wonder who that could be." He said, but instead of going to the door, he went directly to his garage and fetched a four-foot monkey wrench.

After that he opened his garage to see a platoon of heartless.

"Looks like fun." He said with a smirk and began violently pummeling them with his wrench.

Several blocks away Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, and Axel ran down the streets, taking down heartless with them as they moved. They still had no idea what the motive of these creatures was this time, but they knew that the people of Radiant Gardens had been caught in the crossfire. Houses were burning, but luckily the people who had lived in them were out at the time.

"We got one at two o'clock!" shouted Axel as an enormous heartless dove down from the group's upper right and pounded it's fat body into the ground, separating Yuffie and Axel from the other two.

"What happened to them!" shouted Leon as the dust from the impact slowly settled and he and Aerith took down the fat heartless.

Axel stood up on the other side of the dust cloud and heard Leon's call.

"We're over here, you two just go on!" He replied.

Yuffie was still out cold so Axel kicked her causing her to jump to her feet.

"What was that for!" shouted the ninja, calming down the fierce mood of the invasion for a short moment.

"No time!" shouted Axel as he began to run back down the streets of the residential district causing the ninja to run after him slightly startled.

At the same time in the market, Tifa and Cloud cut through the heartless trying to clear out the square in order to land a gummi ship there to help with the evacuation.

"What are these things?" shouted Tifa as she punched through a soldier type heartless.

"The heartless and that's all I got!" shouted Cloud sweeping his blade through a small group of shadows.

"That's all?" asked Tifa dodging the blow of a neo shadow and plunging her foot into its face, "Doesn't help much."

"Helps enough!" grunted Cloud as he parted his sword and scissor slashed a neo shadow.

Back with Cid, the heartless were beginning to wear him thin in his old age, and he felt that he would soon be overtaken. When he had been surrounded by the heartless, a welcome series of gun blasts.

"Vinnie-boy, I've never been so happy to see you!" roared the old man; the vampiric other simply sighed.

Then a large mechanical moogle rolled into the fray and took down several with an enormous fist. A small black cat looking figure peered out from behind its head and then jumped with joy at the sight of all the defeated heartless.

"Where've you two been?" asked Cid wiping some sweat from his brow.

"We've been…busy…" stated Vincent, calmly.

Onboard the ship, Sora, Kairi, and Ghis were engaged in a fierce battle. Sparks from the clashing of the weapons sprayed throughout the enclosed corridors. At last, Ghis had pushed the keyblade wielders into the opened bridge.

"Children, I'm afraid this is where we must say our good-byes." Stated the man in golden armor casually before he casted an offensive aero spell that flung the two youths to the open hanger door and they slid out, but Sora was able to hook the airship with his keyblade.

"Children, your resistance is not appreciated." Said Ghis slowly closing in on them.

Sora squeezed Kairi's hand even tighter than he had been to keep her from falling to her death.

"No." he said trying to pull himself back up.

But before he could finish any kind of action, a loud gunshot was heard and the lifeless corpse of their enemy dropped out of the doorway.

"Well Fran, I'd say we got him quite well." Said the suave voice of the man that Leon and Aerith had met on the street earlier.

"Balthier, you understand that now they will show no mercy to us under any circumstance?" asked the woman whose ponytail was undone and large white rabbit ears protruded from her head.

Sora muscled he and Kairi's way back onto the flat area of the hanger.

"Who are you!" he queried accusingly.

"Name's Balthier, but you can call me your hero." Said the black-coated man.

"Don't you think they already know too much?" asked the rabbit eared woman known as Fran.

"Naw, they _are_ the good guys aren't they?" said the man in jest.

"Yeah, we're the good guys!" said Sora confidently.

"Did you hear him?" asked the man to his partner, "He said he's the good guy."

"Now listen here, I've rigged this place with explosives and they're set to go off in a very, very, short time, but being the good guys, thinking happy thoughts shouldn't be that hard."

"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Sora confused.

"I don't know, but it doesn't sound good." Answered his friend.

"All it means is this:" said the man before he aptly pushed the keybearers out of the vessel and shouted to them as they fell, "Think happy thoughts!"

With little hesitation, the duo found thoughts of which to console themselves in, both of which were of the other, and gently glided to the ground in the amphitheatre where the majority of their friends were fighting.

Suddenly, the heartless just began to move away and withdraw all across the city. In some places they left sooner than others, but they still left all the same.

From a perch in the distance, three figures armored similar to Ghis stood and watched the action across the city.

"Do you think we should help them?" asked the smaller male figure in the group.

"No." replied a larger male, "Our roles have already been cast, and we played them as well as we could. Now it's time for the next generation of heroes."

"Matsu, what if the keybearers are unable to unlock it?" asked a female figure.

"Iris, I thought I told you not to call me that; I'm Horus now, and if the keybearers can't do it, then they truly must not yet be ready." Stated the larger male.

**HOLY CRAP!!! WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!?!?!? You all may have guessed who Ghis is, but how does he fit into the rest of the story. And who were those guys there at the end?**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Even though the heartless had fled from the amitheatre, they had yet to flee from the residential district. Luckily, Cloud and Tifa had made the option of evacuation from the world via gummi ship leaving the market availiable for all of those who felt that their lives in Radiant Garden were over. Yet still, Leon, Aerith, Cid, Vincent, Cait Sith, Yuffie, and Axel fought on in the residential district. They were beginning to notice the heartless' retreat, but as was said before they were not yet gone.

A group of the smaller darkside like heartless (sorry, I forgot their name! They're those flying guys with the swords at the KH1) swarmed Axel and Yuffie. The two fought them as well as they could, but Yuffie was taken down by one of them. Axel was filled with more rage than he had ever been in his entire life as a human and he tore through the heartless that had attacked Yuffie.

He threw himself at her side and held her up. He closed his eyes and engulfed the two of them in an inferno that did not harm them, but destroyed the heartless around them. He pulled a potion from his pocket and held it to Yuffie's lips.

A warm tear welled up in his eye and he said, "I'm sorry, I can't do any more."

Yuffie smiled weakly and optimistically said, "I'll be fine."

Axel had never felt that way about anyone, and he never wanted to leave the ninja's side, nor did she him.

At that very moment the heartless began to leave en masse from the residential district and Vincent, Cid, and Cait Sith came running up to the scene.

"Ahh, heck. We really came in at the wrong time, didn't we boys?" stated Cid flicking the twig in his mouth with his thumb.

Axel gingerly helped Yuffie to her feet and walked over to their allies.

"Who's this?" said Axel gesturing at Vincent.

"Vincent, you're back!" shouted Yuffie jumping up into the air.

"Wow, she can act like this even when she's hurt?" asked the cat riding on the mechanical moogle.

"So it seems..." said Vincent calmly.

"You guys seen Leon 'n Aerith." asked Axel.

"No, but I've heard some...interesting things..." responded the collected vampiric figure.

At that time the rest of the group came into the revendoux and saw the pyro and the ninja holding hands.

"This date night or somethin'?" asked Cloud seeing that he and Tifa, as well as Leon and Aerith were together.

"About what you said, about the light...thanks." said Leon to his blonde haired friend.

"I got a couple of things like that in me." said Cloud with a smirk.

"Hear anything about the guys at the ampitheatre?" asked Tifa.

"No, but we were just on our way over there." said Axel.

"No we..." began Cid, but he stopped as soon as Yuffie's foot hit his shin.

"Then let us go." said Aerith with a smile.

Sora and Kairi touched down just in time to see the great explosion, and as they began to wonder about their savior's safety, an orange and blue ship was jettisoned from the great vessel.

"Dude, why are the heartless leaving?" asked a dumbstucked Dan.

"Kill the head, the body follows." said Riku.

"Still, I've never know the heartless to act like this." stated Zack cautiosly gazing upon the battle zone.

"Well they're gone all the same." said Sora.

It was then that the other group casually strolled up to the group with the keybearers.

"They're gone." said Leon.

"Yeah, that's what everybody's been saying." said Riku.

"I still don't think that it's because Sora took down their leader." added Zack.

Riku was relieved to see that his new guitar had survived the battle. He picked it up and strummed whatever chord is the first accoustic chord of Black Balloon by the Goo Goo Dolls and then happily slung it onto his back.

"Is everybody safe?" he asked Cloud and Tifa who were in charge of the evacuation.

"Everybody who wanted to be is." said Tifa.

"Guess we can't make people choose what they do." said Axel, who even though he had come into the ampitheatre with that party, he still wasn't present during the actual evacuation.

"I wish we could..." said the silver haired teen gritting his teeth.

"Traverse town's gonna be getting some traffic." stated Sora almost jokingly.

"Sora, this isn't funny." said Kairi smacking himself on the back of the head, an act that had become her trademark throughout this journey.

"We need to go if we're ever going to find the rest of the organization, we probably need to go." advised Matt.

"We all probably need to go to Traverse Town first though and meet up with the King." added Leena.

"Well me and Zack got no business with the king." stated Dan.

"As much as I hate to say it, you guys are gonna need somebody to take care of you." said Axel moving up and placing his hands on his friend's shoulders.

"Axel, you can't do anything on your own; in fact you'd just make it worse." said Leena in a sarcastic manner.

"Are you saying that you're gonna go with us?" Axel asked his female friend.

"I don't want to, but you guys are gonna need it." she replied.

"What about me?" asked Yuffie to her newfound special someone.

"I'll drop in for a visit sometime." said Axel with a wink.

"So it's settled, the rest of you go to Traverse Town and meet with the King, these guys go out on their own, and we stay here and take care of the rest of the people in Radiant Garden." stated Cloud.

"Sounds about right." said Kairi.

**And so the new adventure truly began...Oh yeah, if you're reading this on April 25, sorry about chapter 9, I musta saved too early.**


End file.
